NEW DELHI: The enforcement directorate (ED) has challenged in the Delhi high court the bail granted to businessman Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, in a money laundering case related to a bank loan fraud. The plea is listed for hearing before Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar on Monday.
ED challenged a trial courts December 13, 2019, order by which Puri was given bail on a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh with two sureties of the like amount. He was earlier granted bail in the AgustaWestland chopper deal case.
Giving Puri relief, the trial court had directed him to not leave the country without its prior permission and to join the probe as and when called for. He was also asked by the court to not influence the prosecution witnesses or tamper with the evidence in any manner.
“Multiple raids have been conducted by different investigating agencies at the residential as well as official premises of Puri. In fact, the entire record of the accused company (Moser Baer) is in the custody of the official liquidator. Thus, the apprehension of the probe agency that the applicant would tamper with the evidence appears to be far-fetched,” the court had observed while granting the relief.
Opposing this line, ED has contended the trial court erred in holding that the agency's apprehension about Puri tampering with evidence was far-fetched.
“The relevant records/documents are not available with the official liquidator and are, in fact, now accessible to the respondent (Puri) and vulnerable to tamperiRead More – Source
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